At the time this article was
written Beverley Bosiak was Deputy Clerk in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly

There are, of course, other
examples of governments in Canada falling because of a vote of non-confidence.
Indeed, in Manitoba in 1922 the Liberal minority government of T.C. Norris was
defeated on a motion of non-confidence respecting the abolition of the Public
Utilities Commission. While not a matter traditionally considered to be one of
non-confidence, the matter was deemed to be a key enough issue that the then
Premier requested Lieutenant-Governor Sir James Aikins to dissolve the
Legislature. The response of the Lieutenant-Governor was that the Legislature
had been summoned to attend to the business of the province and when it had
done so (which took about two weeks) he would dissolve it. Last year another
government fell under even stranger circumstances.

On March 8, 1988 Manitoba's
Thirty-Third Legislature came to a sudden and unexpected end when the
government fell on a matter of confidence. What made this unusual, if not
completely unprecedented, was that the government was defeated by one of its
own members.

A strange hush -- followed by what
can only be described as pandemonium -- engulfed the House as the NDP Member
for St. Vital (James Walding) rose with the opposition to register his vote
during the division. A former Speaker, Mr. Walding, voted with the opposition
on an amendment to the motion "That this House support in general the
budgetary policy of the government"(1) At the time the standings in the
House were NDP 28, Conservatives 26, 1 Liberal and 1 vacancy.

First elected in 1971, Mr. Walding
served as critic of several major departments while in opposition. When the NDP
formed the government in 1982 he was elected Speaker of the Assembly. By
several accounts, he distanced himself from the government of the day in 1984
by refusing to turn off the division bells during the acrimonious debate on the
French language issue.(2) In 1986 he was challengedfor the NDP nomination in
St. Vital by a former executive assistant to the Premier. Mr. Walding won the
nomination by a single vote and held onto his seat in the subsequent provincial
election. He was, however, passed over for a cabinet appointment after the
election and having indicated he had no wish to serve another term as Speaker,
sat as a government back-bencher.

Mr. Walding expressed his
unhappiness with the NDP government's program as mover of the Throne Speech
motion. He cautioned that "People are not sure of who's in charge of the
store or, more frighteningly, is anyone in charge of the store".
"We've been doing well in this province, but are we doing well on borrowed
money? The day of reckoning will come, whether it's next year or the year
after." "...I believe that there is a problem that has been reflected
not only in what people have said but in the public opinion polls which were
produced about a week ago. ...Autopac (the public insurance corporation) was
merely a reflection of the focus, the symbol if you like, of a number of
underlying facts that people know. Neither one on its own would probably be
enough to make them turn the government out of office, but when you get all of
them together they form a cumulative objection that people have."
Following his speech, he was asked in the House on the record if one could
assume that he would be voting against the Throne Speech thus triggering an
election, to which he replied, "That facetious question is really not
worthy of reply."(3) And as late as the day before the vote on the budget
he had told members of the media he would support the government on the budget
vote.(4)

When asked by the media why he
voted against his own party on March 8, 1988, Mr. Walding replied, "It is
time for the people of Manitoba to decide whether this government still has a
mandate. The people of Manitoba can decide. I don't want that decision to be
all on me. It's too much of a strain. I can't do it any longer."(5) Later,
Mr. Walding was quoted as saying that the reason for his vote was that the NDP
was moving away from its CCF roots and principles, citing the development of
policies for particular linguistic, ethnic and cultural groups as departing
from the CCF's "humanity first" motto.(6)

The Pawley government was becoming
unpopular with many Manitobans due to large increases in rates for the
provincially-operated automobile insurance plan, as well as revelations that
operations by the Manitoba Telephone System in Saudi Arabia had led to a
twenty-seven million dollar loss of taxpayers' money which added to the
province's growing deficit and increasing taxation.

The opposition amendment expressing
the House's lack of confidence in the government had carried. The Speaker then
put the question on the main motion (as amended) which carried. Perhaps the
second vote was redundant, but it certainly sealed the fate of the Pawley
government. This Legislature was finished. Or was it? The Premier had not
admitted defeat so the Opposition House Leader moved to adjourn the sitting.
Within the hour rumours abounded in the corridors of the limestone Legislative
Building. One rumour had the opposition wooing the dissident government Member
and the Liberal Member in an attempt to form a coalition; a second rumour had
the government wooing the Liberal Member in an effort to form a "new"
administration.

Preparations were made by the Clerk's
Office for a sitting on March 9, anticipating the Premier's announcement to the
House that he had called upon the Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the
Legislature and issue the writs of election. There was, too, the slim
possibility that the Lieutenant-Governor would not immediately terminate this
Legislature. In addition to the 1922 situation in Manitoba and the King-Byng
affair, a Canadian precedent exists from the 1929 situation in Saskatchewan
where a minority government lost two routine votes, including one on the
election of a Speaker. In that situation, the Saskatchewan Premir met with the
Lieutenant-Governor and subsequently announced to the House his intention to
resign. With the co-operation of the opposition, that administration and the
legislative session continued for a few days in order to pass necessary
matters. The Saskatchewan House then prorogued and the government resigned to
make way for the formation of a new administration.

Professor Howard McConnell of the
College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan suggested to Manitoba's
procedural officers that Premier Pawley had two options: resign and make way
for a new government or ask the Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the House and
call a provincial election. It is the exclusive prerogative of the
Lieutenant-Governor to call upon a person to form a government and in so doing
the Lieutenant-Governor would sound out Members of the Assembly to satisfy
himself which person would be capable of enjoying the confidence of the House.
Once satisfied that a particular person could form a government capable of
sustaining the confidence of the House, he would call on that person to become
the First Minister. The first item of business in the next gathering of the
House would be a vote of confidence in the new administration. If the
Lieutenant-Governor, as a result of his sounding out of Members, was not
satisfied that any person could sustain the confidence of the House, the
Lieutenant-Governor could use his reserve power to dissolve the House and call
an election, whether or not the Premier was prepared to recommend it.

These and other options were no
doubt discussed by Manitoba politicians into the wee hours of March 8 and 9. In
the end, Premier Pawley called upon the Administrator of the Province to dissolve
the House and an election was called, precluding the need for the House to sit
again to hear the Premier announce his intentions. The news conference was held
at 12:30 p.m. -- one hour before the usual sitting start. The Orders-in-Council
were signed by Alfred Monnin, Chief Justice of the Manitoba Court of Appeal and
Admnistrator of the Province (in the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor). His
Honour, George Johnson, had been out of the country and unable to return in
time to receive the Premier.

Howard Pawley also on March 9
announced his resignation as leader of the NDP. His successor was Gary Doer who
was elected as party leader on March 31 but not sworn in as Premier. When the
provincial election was held on April 26 the people of Manitoba elected a
minority Legislature consisting of twenty-five Conservatives, twenty Liberals
and twelve NDP Members. Former Premier Howard Pawley was subsequently
unsuccessful in his bid for a seat in the 1988 federal election. James Walding
has maintained a low public profile.

Notes

1. The text of the opposition
amendment was as follows:

in presenting its Budget, the
Government has:

1) Ignored the long-term effects of
uncontrolled spending by once more increasing its expenditures at twice the
rate of inflation; and

2) Dipped into the pockets of
ordinary Manitobans for an enormous tax haul of $185 million more in personal
income taxes; and

3) Absorbed the largest increase in
revenue in the province's history while applying less than 15% of it to deficit
reduction; and

4) Because of its continued
policies of foreign borrowing and deficit spending, has brought about an
increase in interest costs of almost 20% in this year's budget; and

5) Thereby lost the confidence of
this House and the people of Manitoba.

2. For an insight into the
"bell-ringing affair" see "A fateful prorogation: The death of
constitutional proposals in Manitoba" by Gordon H.A. Mackintosh, The
Parliamentarian, April 1985, pp. 60-66.